Intent 

Guided by our Christian ethos, at St Mary’s we strive to provide children with the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to ‘live life in all it’s fullness’ (John 10:10).  We believe that all children should flourish in every aspect of their development, so our carefully planned and ambitious curriculum aims to achieve this.  Our values are integral to school life and form the foundation of our curriculum. Collectively we call these values ‘The St Mary’s Way’. We are: 

•  Resilient 

•  Curious 

•  Respectful 

•  Accountable 

•  Active members of our community 

We are an inclusive school with an ambitious curriculum instilling high expectations of everyone at St Mary’s. We strive towards all children living out our vision and upholding our values by ensuring they: 

• Develop their spirituality and understanding of the Christian faith; 

• Reflect upon themselves as a learner and know their next steps in progress; 

• Learn the necessary tools to self-regulate and manage their own physical and mental wellbeing; 

• Embrace opportunities to learn outside the classroom; 

• Explore their individual interests and talents and share these with others; and 

• Become active members of the school and local communities.  

Our curriculum is designed to overcome the barriers our children face. Therefore, there is an emphasis on:  

• Developing strong communication and language skills, particularly during the Early Years 

• Becoming fluent, confident and enthusiastic readers 

• Promoting citizenship and British Values through learning about equality, diversity and the rule of law 

• Building resilience to overcome challenges and the self-motivation to succeed  

In delivering the St Mary’s curriculum, we believe that children will be well-prepared for each stage of their education, succeed in their next endeavours and achieve great things both in and outside our school.  They will know more, remember more and be able to do more, meaning they are well-equipped to thrive both today and in the future, fulfilling our overarching vision of experiencing ‘life in all it’s fullness’ (John 10:10).  

Implementation 

At St Mary's our curriculum implementation is thoughtfully designed to bring our vision to life for every child. We follow the national curriculum ensuring it is delivered with ambition, coherence, and inclusivity. 

Key Features of Our Curriculum Implementation: 

• Carefully Sequenced Learning: 
  Our curriculum is planned and delivered in a carefully sequenced manner, ensuring that foundational knowledge, skills, and concepts are mastered before progressing. This approach supports children in building increasingly complex mental models, enabling them to know more, remember more, and do more. 

• High-Quality Teaching and Adaptive Strategies: 
  We employ adaptive teaching methods tailored to meet the diverse needs of our children, including those with SEND, ensuring that all children can access and engage with the curriculum effectively. Teachers use evidence-informed strategies such as systematic synthetic phonics for early reading and retrieval practice in maths to build fluency and confidence. 

• Subject-Specific Expertise and Collaboration: 
  Our staff collaborate regularly to refine subject knowledge and share effective teaching resources, ensuring consistency and depth in subjects such as maths, early reading, art, music, and geography. This collaboration helps anticipate and address common misconceptions, supporting children’s deeper understanding. 

• Embedding Values and Personal Development: 
  The curriculum is interwoven with our core values and Christian ethos, promoting spiritual growth, self-regulation, and wellbeing. Opportunities to learn beyond the classroom and to explore individual talents ensure that children develop holistically as active members of the school and wider community. 

• Robust Assessment and Reflection: 
  Assessment strategies are embedded to monitor progress and impact, with a focus on ensuring that curriculum delivery is effective and leads to demonstrable outcomes. Children are supported to reflect on their learning and understand their next steps, fostering a growth mindset and resilience. 

• Inclusive and Ambitious Curriculum: 
  Our curriculum is designed to overcome barriers faced by children, with particular emphasis on developing communication and language skills from the Early Years, promoting British values, and building the motivation and resilience needed to succeed.

Through this implementation, we strive to prepare our children not only academically but also spiritually, socially, and emotionally, equipping them to thrive at each stage of their education and beyond. 

Impact 

At St Mary’s, we rigorously evaluate the impact of our curriculum through a triangulated monitoring approach involving all subject leaders and senior leaders. Subject leaders are given protected time to conduct detailed reviews, enabling continuous refinement of curriculum delivery and enhancement of subject expertise. This process ensures that curriculum implementation remains faithful to our ambitious intent, designed to meet the needs of all children—including those with SEND, disadvantaged pupils, and those facing other barriers to learning or well-being. 

We systematically track and monitor children’s attainment and progress across all subjects, ensuring that every child is supported to reach their full potential. Early identification of children who fall behind allows targeted, timely interventions. Where appropriate, we benchmark our children’s outcomes against national data to contextualise performance and inform school improvement priorities. 

Our curriculum is carefully planned and sequenced to enable incremental acquisition of knowledge and skills, with particular attention to establishing strong foundations in communication and language, reading, writing, and mathematics. This ensures children can access the wider curriculum confidently and are well prepared for later academic success and personal well-being. 

We prioritise high-quality teaching by investing in professional development that builds staff expertise in the national curriculum, the Early Years Foundation Stage, and subject-specific pedagogy. Teachers focus on the most important knowledge and concepts, present information clearly, check understanding systematically, and adapt teaching to meet the diverse needs of all children. 

Assessment is used effectively to inform teaching and learning. Formative assessment identifies misconceptions and gaps, allowing teachers to provide specific feedback and adapt instruction to help children embed key concepts and develop fluency. Summative assessments are employed thoughtfully to measure progress over time and guide interventions, without distorting curriculum delivery or overemphasising test preparation. 

We actively seek and incorporate pupil and parent voices to evaluate curriculum initiatives and overall provision, using this feedback to drive continuous improvement. Additionally, we use qualitative measures such as regular learning reviews, retrieval practice, and knowledge checks to assess the depth and retention of children’s learning. 

Through these comprehensive and evidence-informed strategies, we ensure our curriculum not only raises academic standards but also nurtures well-rounded, resilient citizens who embody ‘The St Mary’s Way’ and are prepared to thrive in modern society.